All Eyes On Rea, As Superbikes Heads Home To Donington

Thirty years ago, on April 3rd 1988, the FIM World Superbike Championship roared into life at the Donington Park circuit as Italian rider Davide Tordozzi, astride a Bimota machine, claimed the first ever race win in the series. As with  the passing of time, manufacturers have come and gone – Bimota being much lamented – and the circuit has changed too. Then the Superbikes diced on the shorter 1.98 mile ‘national’ confuguration. When the lights go out at 13:15 BST on Saturday for race 1, the gladiators will be on the famous 2.5 mile grand prix layout.

Equally, the attitude of the spectators has changed. Where there was intrigue in 1988, there is now expectation in 2018 as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) seeks to claim the record for number of race wins in the series, this weekend.

The reigning triple world champion arrives at his home round with a healthy 47-point lead at the top of the standings, following his stunning double last time out at Imola. With its mix of medium and high speed corners, and lack of long straights, Donington Park is a circuit which plays to the strengths of both Rea and his ZX-10RR machine. Having equaled the great Carl Fogarty with 59 race wins, there could be no more fitting venue than here for the record to be broken.

Standing in his way is his team-mate, Tom Sykes. The Yorkshireman has an imperious record around the east midlands track, having recorded a current total of 9 victories. Furthermore, Sykes has not finished outside of a podium position in any of the last 12 races to be held here. The British round of the 2018 season could not have arrived at a more needed time for the Kawasaki man. After the opening five rounds Sykes finds himself in third place in the standings, but a daunting 72 points adrift of Rea. Donington Park is Sykes’ fortress. Nobody can boast as strong a record around this place as he can. Be assured, he will going out all guns blazing to get back into the championship fight, this weekend.

Aruba.it Ducati will be desperate to bounce back after failing to win either of their home races last time out. Despite podium finishes for both Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri, the powers that be in the Ducati Corse department declared the Italian round a disaster, and arranged an ’emergency test’ at the Mugello circuit for the team last week. There is no doubt that the team are now at a crossroads in terms of the development of their machines. Ducati have not been shy of making it known that from 2019 they will field their new V4 Panigale model. As such, the question is now being asked up and down the paddock: how long will the team persist with the 1199 v-twin Panigale, or will they begin to focus their full attention on developing next year’s challenger? With Davies being the closest championship contender, sitting in second place on 162 points, the message from the top brass in Bologna could not be more clear – podiums are not good enough, we’re here to win.

One team who would be satisfied by scoring a podium finish or two this weekend would be the Pata-Yamaha outfit. Michael van der Mark will be desperate to make up for his error last time out at Imola, crashing out in race 2 when he was well set for a good points haul. The Dutch rider has enjoyed a solid start to the season, finding himself in sixth place in the championship with 113 points. Additionally he finds himself leading his team-mate, Alex Lowes (92 points). The Brit had a difficult weekend at Imola, losing a considerable amount of track time during Friday practice, due to a serious mechanical fault with his R1 machine. As a consequence, he was left scrapping across the two races for minor points. Donington is a circuit which the 27-year old has consistently gone well at throughout his British and World Superbike careers. This includes securing Pata-Yamaha’s first podium finish here last year. A repeat performance would relaunch the Lincolnshire man’s campaign.

The battle between the independent riders will be as fierce as always. Whilst it is now a given formality to expect the likes of Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati), Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing Kawasaki) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pucetti Kawasaki) to mix it with the established factory front runners, a new name was catapulted to our attention last time out: Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati Junior Team). Whilst his talent was clear during his time in the Superstock 1000 class last season, nobody expected the 22-year old from Rimini to adapt to life in Superbikes quite so quickly. Unlike the rest of the field, Rinaldi is only competing in the European rounds of the season – a decision made by Ducati to ease his transition into the top class. At Imola he became one of the youngest riders to ever lead a World Superbike race, to underline his potential.

As we’re at Donington this week, there are a number of British wildcard entrants competing this weekend. The most prolific of these being current British Superbike championship leader, Leon Haslam (Pucetti Kawasaki). Having stormed to a podium finish in race 1 last year at this venue, Haslam was always going to return. He also made an appearance a fortnight ago in Italy, manage to secure decent points in both races. At the track where he’s completed more laps than anyone can count, the home crowd will be expecting big things from their local hero. He has the talent and the bike to cause a big upset to the favourites. Joining him will be Mason Law (WD40-Kawasaki) and the young sensation Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki). For Ray, it is a big opportunity to draw the attention of the bosses of the world championship teams. Its no secret that he sees his long term career on the world stage – whether that be in Superbikes or Grand Prix racing. Having secured an emphatic brace of victories here back in April in BSB, he should be competitive from the start this weekend.

World Superbike Race 1: Saturday 26th May – 1315 BST

World Superbike Race 2: Sunday 27th May – 1300 BST

WSBK Imola: Race 1 – Cruise Control for Kawasaki

 

Jonathan Rea and the Kawasaki Racing Team cranked up the pressure on their championship rivals with a blistering performance, leaving all and sundry reeling in their wake.

The timing at this point in the season and the venue only made the victory sweeter for the Japanese factory team, at the spectacular Autodromo Enzo Ferrari di Imola, in the Bologna region of Italy – Ducati’s home round.

Having qualified on pole position for the sixteenth time in his career, Rea made the perfect launch from the grid as the lights went out, and never looked back. As so often is the case with the 3x world champion, once he’d found his rhythm it was impossible for anyone to close the gap. Even Tom Sykes (KRT) on identical machinery could offer no answer to the pace and consistency of the Northern Irishman. Such was the performance of the Kawasaki ZX-10RR machines, Sykes was able to establish his own commanding lead in second place over the chasing riders behind.

The factory Aruba.it Ducati team will be wondering how their rivals had so comprehensively outperformed them. On a track which their lead rider, Chaz Davies, had secured victory in the four previous races to be held at the circuit. Unlike messrs Rea and Sykes, Davies suffered a poor race start – wheel spinning off the line and becoming engulfed in the mid-pack shenanigans on the run down to the Tamburello chicane. P4 was the best Davies could ultimately manage, but due to the quirky reverse grid format for Race 2, it does mean he will start from pole position tomorrow.

Instead of challenging KRT for honours, the Ducati riders were left to fight amongst themselves for the final place on the podium. Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Ducati) emerged victorious from the in-house fight to claim the final spot on the podium, though not before he had fended off another strong challenge from Spanish rider Xavi Fores on the independent Barni-Racing Ducati. Fores eventually finished in P5 behind the two factory riders, but it was another display which showcased the breakthrough season the 32-year old is having. Behind him came young Italian protege, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati Junior Team), much to the delight of the home crowd. Despite only entering his third round of the season, Rinaldi has adjusted to life from Superstock racing. Although he faded in the final laps due to tyre wear, his result in P7 (with a fastest lap of 1″47.536) underline his potential.

It was a testing day for the Pata Yamaha outfit with both riders, Michael Van der Mark (P6) and Alex Lowes (P10), unable to hold pace with their front running rivals. The latter in particular had been on the back foot since Friday, after an engine issue forced him to sit out the entirely of the first practice session. Lowes spent the race fighting with the two Pucetti Kawasaki bikes of Toprak Razgatlioglu (P11) and wildcard entrant Leon Haslam (P9).

One team who suffered a complete disaster was Red Bull Honda. Having attempted to ride during Friday morning practice, Leon Camier ruled himself out, still suffering with injuries sustained at Aragon last month. His replacement, flown in from British Superbikes, was Jason O’Halloran. with just one practice session to his name, the amiable Aussie out-qualified American teammate Jake Gagne. However that was to be as good as it got as, early in the race O’Halloran crashed out at the fast Villeneuve chicane and had to be transported to hospital. Gagne (P16), struggling with the front end feeling of the bike throughout the weekend so far, failed to finish in the points.

Sykes Looks to Continue Good Form in Imola

This weekend, the Superbike World Championship heads to Imola in Italy, for the fifth round of the 2018 championship. Tom Sykes comes into this round on the crest of a wave after his victory in Asses two weeks ago, but it is his teammate, Jonathan Rea, who leads the championship.

But Sykes’ victory in Assen showed that this season will not be as easy for Rea as the previous ones, as it was the first time Rea had been beaten at the Dutch circuit since he joined Kawasaki back at the end of 2014. And Imola is a strong circuit for the 2013 World Champion, too, and one where he has strong support from the Italian fans – who can forget Sykes’ rage-fuelled pole lap in 2014 on race tyres when his initial lap on a qualifying tyre was disallowed because he crossed the line after a red flag was thrown. In addition to that, he scored a double win in Imola back in 2013, which proved critical for the title race as his championship rival, Sylvain Guintoli, retired from the first race. If Sykes can keep hold of his tyres this weekend, a traditional weakness of the number 66 but one he seemed to be able to remedy at an unusually warm Assen, he could be difficult to beat.

But if anyone could do so, it would likely be his teammate, Jonathan Rea. The Northern Irishman won both Imola races in 2014 on the underpowered Pata Honda. However, Rea hasn’t won at the San Marinese circuit since 2015, when he also did the double. Despite a test at Brno, on the way into this weekend Rea has claimed that he is still missing something to take the maximum from the 2018 ZX10-RR. But, like when Marc Marquez said the same thing about his Honda RC213V after last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, it is difficult to take this statement from Rea as one which perhaps put him under threat. If anything, it just serves as a worry to his fellow competitors, and there is no doubt that the reigning champion will be in the fight for the victory this weekend.

Chaz Davis. Image courtesy of Ducati.com

However, Imola is Ducati’s home, near to their Borgo Panigale base, and they will be eager to bounce back after a difficult weekend in Assen where they scored only one podium. Chaz Davies, though, has won the last four races at Imola, doing the double in the last two years on the #7 bike, and it will be important for the Welshman to do the same this weekend to maintain his championship challenge – his fifth place in Assen race two did not help his situation.

It was the other factory Ducati rider, Marco Melandri, though, who made the big progress at the Brno test. The Italian has suffered with straight-line instability all season, and it didn’t get any better in Holland, despite the outward appearance seeming significantly improved. The Italian will be hopeful of repeating his Phillip Island performance from February this weekend at his home race, although he has not won in Imola since he won the 125cc Grand Prix there in 1999.

The Yamaha riders had contrasting fortunes in Assen. Alex Lowes took pole, but his weekend got significantly worse from there, with the wrong front tyre being fitted to the bike (his second bike) for race one, and then, after starting from tenth due to his poor race one result, he crashed out of sixth place in race two, although he remounted to take 2 points for fourteenth. The 2013 British Superbike Champion will be hoping for better luck in the races this weekend and that, combined with recent improvements on the part of the bike, could get him back on the podium this weekend.

It was an almost opposite weekend for the #60 Yamaha of Michael van der Mark. The Assen home hero had a difficult qualifying, ending up seventh, but took second in race one and third in race two, challenging Rea on both occasions. Although, van der Mark has never been on the podium in Italy. He should have won race two in Misano last year, but his tyre failed causing him to crash – he will be hoping to correct that this weekend, although in the past Imola has proven a tricky circuit for Yamaha – they haven’t scored a top five since their return in 2015.

Jake Gagne. Image Courtesy of Hondanews.eu.

Honda have a difficult situation. Whilst Jake Gagne is fit for the whole weekend after missing days two and three of Assen, Leon Camier has only been given clearance for FP1 on Friday morning. It is good to have the pair of them back after there were no Ten Kate Hondas on the grid at their home race, but Camier will only decide if he will ride after the first session once it is completed. If Camier should decide to not continue with the weekend, BSB’s Jason O’Halloran, who took the Honda Racing CBR1000RR SP2 Fireblade to second place at Oulton Park last weekend in the British championship, is ready to take over for the weekend.

Eugene Laverty is back too, after he missed Aragon and Assen due to the injuries he sustained in Thailand when he was hit by Jordi Torres’ MV Agusta after he crashed the Milwaukee Yamaha. The Northern Irishman is back one round ahead of his plan, so it will be interesting to see his competitiveness – hopefully he will be okay to make the weekend with a good pace, and maybe he can make two good results in the races on Saturday and Sunday.

Leon Haslam is back in World Superbike, too, after his three successive wins in BSB, including a double win last weekend at Oulton Park which fired him to the top of the general standings. Haslam will be riding a retro Elf livery on the Puccetti Kawasaki, one similar to that his dad, Ron, used to ride, albeit on a Honda. Haslam, of course, took a podium in race one at Donington last year when he finished second, behind Tom Sykes who won thanks to Jonathan Rea’s tyre failure. Whether Haslam can replicate that result this weekend, on a track which he has not ridden since 2015, when he struggled a bit on the Aprilia, remains to be seen. And, of course, the Kawasaki in World Superbike is significantly different both to the one he rides in BSB, and that which he rode last year at Donington – most notably the maximum rev drop that Kawasaki has been suffering with so far this season will be a factor in Imola.

Sykes Ends Rea’s Assen Winning Streak with Dominant Race Two Performance

Tom Sykes finished fourth in the first race of the Dutch World Superbike round, and as such started the second race from pole position on the #66 Kawasaki and alongside Xavi Fores on the Barni Racing Ducati and the factory 1199 Panigale of Marco Melandri. Row two had Loris Baz in fourth, Leandro Mercado in fifth and Jordi Torres lining up sixth. The third row was of course the podium finishers from Saturday’s race in reverse order, with Chaz Davies going off seventh, Michael van der Mark from eighth and Jonathan Rea starting ninth.

Sykes made a great start from pole, but still had to out-brake the Barni Ducati of Fores around the outside at turn one. He did so successfully, and after being fastest by 0.6 seconds in warm-up on Sunday morning it was an ominous sign for the opposition.

Both Van der Mark and Rea made it past Marco Melandri at the final chicane at the end of the first lap, with the Italian on the outside of the three, and having little choice but to cut the second part of the chicane. He importantly did not gain time, though, and actually lost two further positions to Mercado and Alex Lowes down the pit straight.

Marco Melandri. Image courtesy of ducati.com

Melandri then proceeded to run wide at turn one at the beginning of lap two, which allowed Baz, Torres and then Davies through, and that finalised what had been an awful two minutes for the Italian, who had dropped from third on the grid to tenth in one lap. Meanwhile, Sykes was steaming away at the front, and had already extended his gap to over one second from Fores.

The first lap had not been so good for Davies, who ran wide at the first turn which dropped him quite far back, and his progress only started midway through lap two when he passed Torres for eighth at the Ruskenhoek, and then Baz at Stekenvaal. Perhaps having a bad first lap does not sound so bad, but when the two others who started from row three are third and fourth, and the leader already has about five seconds on you, it can ruin your race, and it took him until the end of the third lap for the Welshman to move past Mercado into sixth.

By lap four the race was starting to take shape, and Xavi Fores’ stay in second position looked severely more limited once he left De Strubben, as Rea had moved past Van der Mark. Sykes was still steaming away at the front, but there was still a question mark about the duration of Sykes’ rear tyre, but we could only find out the importance of the rear tyre in the fortunes of Sykes until the end.

With 16 laps to go, Rea and Van der Mark had caught Fores, and with fifteen to go they had passed Fores – Rea’s move was a stunner, around the outside of Hoge Heide. Now we would see whether they had the pace to catch Sykes for the lead. In the first laps, there were no gains from the Kawasaki-Yamaha pair in second and third, and the gap remained at around 3.5 seconds, and by lap nine it had started to extend, out to almost four seconds.

Furthermore, it looked like Rea was trying a reasonable amount more than Sykes to make the lap time – it looked much more difficult for the Northern Irishman than for his teammate – and he was still losing time to Sykes.

From there, not much changed. Sykes continued to extend the lead over Rea behind, but the order between the front runners remained unchanged in the final twelve laps, apart from Van der Mark passing Rea when the reigning World Champion made a mistake at the chicane with ten laps to go, and a crash for the second Pata Yamaha at the final chicane with nine to go. The British rider got back on to finish fourteenth, but it was not a pair of results that he would have hoped for after starting race one from pole. Rea then passed Van der Mark back at De Strubben and, although he could not drop the Dutchman, he was able keep the home rider at bay until the flag.

The victory of Sykes was remarkable, a return to his World Championship year for the 2013 World Superbike Champion. He got to turn one first, and that was the last anyone saw of him. This performance and result was just what Sykes needed after such a disappointing opening few races, in which he had failed to make the podium on all but one occasion – the first race of the season at Phillip Island. Imola is next up, a good circuit for the Briton, and one where he has a lot of support, typically – a pair of performances akin to the one he put in for Assen race two could throw him back into championship contention.

The win for Sykes also ended Rea’s 100% record at the Dutch circuit since he moved to Kawasaki. The Northern Irishman’s second place, though, was enough to extend his gap in the World Championship to over one race win for the first time in 2018, which could be crucial with Imola next up – Ducati’s back garden and, as mentioned, a good circuit for Sykes.

Xavi Fores behind Marco Melandri. Image Courtesy of Ducati

Michael van der Mark was not particularly content with his third place, saying he simply did not have the grip from the Pirelli tyres to go after Rea and Sykes. Still, his second podium of his home WorldSBK round and third of the 2018 season represents a positive weekend for the Dutch rider and, combined with the potential shown by Alex Lowes, shows the progress made in recent races by Pata Yamaha.

Xavi Fores was the first of the Ducati riders over the line on a difficult day for the Italian marque. It was a decent ride from Fores but he will be disappointed as Assen is the first round of the season at which he has not managed to take a podium.

The second Ducati was Chaz Davies in fifth place. There were changes to the bike made in warm-up, but they cost him side grip in the beginning of the race, and a “strange vibration on the rear” that they still need to determine the cause of. Without the vibration he may have been able to fight for the podium, but dropping eighteen points across the two races was presumably not what the number seven had in mind for this weekend, and he will be hoping to bounce back in Imola, where he did the double back in 2016.

Jordi Torres took yet another good result for MV with sixth place, and ahead of Marco Melandri, who suffered yet again with the Panigale this weekend. Whilst he knows the pace in the bike is there, and that is also evidenced by the results of Fores and Davies, Melandri admits that he, the team and Ducati are still working to resolve the instability issues which have been plaguing the Italian since the start of the season. He is looking forward to a private test at Brno, saying it will be “very important” and that “the solution is within reach” as he hopes to be able to make better results in Imola.

Loris Baz took eighth place on the Althea BMW, ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Lorenzo Savadori who rounded out the top ten.

Eleventh place went to Davide Giugliano (replacing Eugene Laverty) on the second Aprilia, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi who “thought [he] could do better” but a problem at the start limited him to twelfth place. PJ Jacobsen on the sole Honda was thirteenth, ahead of Alex Lowes in fourteenth after his crash, and Ondrej Jezek who was the final points scorer.

Yonny Hernandez was the final rider over the line in sixteenth, whilst Leandro Mercado and Roman Ramos were the only retirements.

From here, the 2018 Superbike World Championship heads to Imola for round five. It is the true home round of Ducati, so they will be particularly focussed to recover from their subpar performances in Holland, and close down the gap to Jonathan Rea in the championship. But, for now, the man of the moment is Tom Sykes, who barely put a foot wrong in Assen race two, and looked back to his title-winning self.

Rea Equals Fogarty with Dominant Assen Display

The first race of round four for the 2018 Superbike World Championship at Assen was set to be a fierce one, with the pace of the front runners looking quite close, and after Alex Lowes set his first WSBK pole position.

However, it did not quite turn out that way. Jonathan Rea took the lead early on and, despite being passed by Michael van der Mark replacing him at the front for a couple of laps, the win for Rea never looked in doubt. He may not have been able to break away from the pack, but he always looked like he would have the extra 2% to be able to fight back should someone have come past – honestly it looked like he was riding at 90% for most of the race to conserve the tyre. The win for Rea extended his lead in the championship to twenty points, put him level with Carl Fogarty’s record of 12 wins at Assen and closer to the four-time World Champion’s total win record.

Jonathan Rea, Michael van der Mark &  Chaz Davies. Image courtesy of Ducati media

Michael van der Mark took second. It looked like he just ran out of tyre at the end, but his position is positive, and a good result at his home race. He had a stretch leading the race, but was never able to make an impact. It can be said, though, for sure, that the Yamaha had incredible high speed stability, as all of both Lowes’ and van der Mark’s lap time came in sectors three and four – the run back to the chicane. Van der Mark made the most of that to achieve what he did, but the amount he was lacking in the first half of the lap absolutely cost him the race, because by the end of the race he was losing too much time to be able to be close enough into the chicane – he had too much time to make up when he arrived at the section where he had the advantage – so he could never make a move for the win. Perhaps the #60 side of the Pata Yamaha garage can make a change for tomorrow to be able to fight more for the victory – but the signs from the R1 are positive, it is coming.

The final spot on the podium was taken by Chaz Davies. There was a point in the race where it looked like Chaz could win – he was hounding Jonathan Rea at almost every corner, but ultimately he was not fast enough in the right areas, notably the final sector – with all the fast stuff – which is ultimately what cost him the position to van der Mark at the end and also what cost him the chance to have a go at Rea, because he couldn’t get close enough in the final chicane or turn one. There was a bit of a scare for Davies at the end as Tom Sykes was closing him down, but the second Kawasaki was not close enough in the final chicane for a move. Third is a decent result for Chaz, considering points to Rea is probably a little bit more than what he might have expected yesterday. But, for sure, Chaz needs to win tomorrow, and starting from the same row of the grid as Rea tomorrow (for race one, Chaz was only on row three) will certainly help.

Fourth place for Tom Sykes is the result of his best race since Phillip Island race one. It still looks like Tom is struggling to get on with the ZX10-RR of this season, with the new regulations implemented, but for nonce, today Sykes came back at the end of the race, rather than dropping further back. Sykes spent a lot of time on one tyre on Friday to prepare in the best way the race, and it definitely worked, as he came past Marco Melandri and Xavi Fores and nearly Davies too. Pole position tomorrow could be just what the Brit needs to take his first win – but he has to make the start.

Marco Melandri  and Chaz Davis. Image courtesy of Ducati media

Fifth place went to Xavi Fores, who looked like he ran out of tyres by the end of the race, but it was enough either way to beat Marco Melandri who, as expected, looked to be struggling over race distance with the stability of his bike. Maybe it is just me, or maybe it is just that Melandri is a physically smaller rider, but it looks like the Italian is running a larger fairing this weekend perhaps to combat the instability. If he is running one, and it is for that purpose, it doesn’t seem to be working much. Phillip Island showed that Melandri has the pace to win races, but until this high-speed headshaking issue is sorted out, Marco’s season is somewhat on hold.

Loris Baz was the ‘best of the rest’ in seventh place on the Althea BMW. The Frenchman’s dog died in the night, and so it was a nice result for him to be able to say goodbye with – even if it is not what he would really want, it is pretty much all he can get right now with the package he has.

Eighth place went to Leandro Mercado on the Orelac Kawasaki, his best ride of the season, ahead of Jordi Torres on the MV and the Puccetti Kawasaki of Toprak Razgatlioglu who rounded out the top ten. Roman Ramos was just outside of the top ten in eleventh, ahead of Alex Lowes who had some issues from about the mid-point of the race, but still managed to beat Davide Giugliano, PJ Jacobsen and Lorenzo Savadori who completed the points finishers. Sava actually crashed just after passing Baz for seventh place at De Strubben, which itself came after a disastrous start which dropped him way down the order from his grid position of fourth. Still, the pace shown by the Italian is positive after a difficult start to the season.

The final two finishers were Yonny Hernandez in sixteenth and Odrej Jezek in seventeenth. The only retirement was Rinaldi, who also had a grid penalty for irresponsible riding which occurred in an incident with Tom Sykes in qualifying. Both the Red Bull Hondas missed the race too, as Leon Camier is suffering with his injury from Aragon, and Jake Gagne is out for the weekend after he sustained injuries in his practice crash in the first of the fast right handers in FP2 – a bit of a miserable weekend for the Red Bull Honda team, in their home race, none of their bikes can race.

There is a lot of work to do for many of the riders tomorrow if they want to beat Jonathan Rea, and if they can’t it will be a historic day for the triple World Champion.

Featured image courtesy of Assen Circuit

Assen WSBK Preview: Rev Limit Changes, Rea the Favourite

This weekend the World Superbike paddock heads to Assen, the “Cathedral of Motorcyling”, for round three of the 2018 World Championship, one weekend on from round two in Aragon.

MotorLand was conquered by Jonathan Rea in race one, and then by Chaz Davies in race two. It was the second round in succession that saw that sequence, and could have been the one to mark the pair out as the two main championship contenders. Of course, they were the favourites to begin with considering their form in the last few years, but the changes to the rules for this season threw a new element of doubt into that. But, the cream rises, as they say, and at the moment both the Northern Irish and Welsh varieties are rising fairly quickly, but Chaz is still ruing the error in Phillip Island race two that left him on the floor, and is a major factor in the twelve point deficit that Davies has in the championship.

Furthermore, the concession points that Ducati scored in respect to Kawasaki, who had a mixed bag in Aragon, mean that the green bikes are allowed an upgrade – and that could prove pivotal. For sure, it will probably swing back around at some point in the future and the Panigale’s will get an upgrade or two, but if it takes a while for that to happen, Kawasaki could have a real opportunity in the next races to make a decent advantage on the Ducati. Remaining on the subject of machinery, the rev limits have been adjusted for this weekend. All manufacturers, bar Ducati, receive a 250rpm limit increase. Again, this could give Kawasaki the advantage this weekend, especially because of the nature of Assen.

In MotorLand, Kawasaki struggled with the gearing, and struggled especially out of turn fifteen and the final corner because they couldn’t keep the bike in the right rev range to drive out of the corner well, and obviously this cost them a lot of time. The problem was that they were unable to change individual gears, because of regulations which were introduced a few years ago prohibiting such setting adjustments, and a change to the overall gearing (which is allowed) would compromise them in other corners to such an extent that it was not worth the gain in the final sector. It is worth pointing out, though, that the problems in sector four were hugely detrimental to Jonathan Rea, and probably cost him a chance to mount a genuine challenge for the win – it was obvious that Rea would not be able to pass Davies because of the acceleration and straight line speed deficit; he just could not get close enough into the overtaking zones, and even if he did, the advantage of the Ducati would have probably allowed Davies to respond.

Now, this is meant as no disrespect to Chaz, he rode superbly in both races, especially race two, and could have had the double but for a crash in Superpole that left him in just eleventh place on the grid. But in Assen, with the high-speed nature, perhaps Kawasaki will not be at the same disadvantage as one week ago, and also because the circuit is more suiting to a flowing, high corner speed riding style, so somebody like Jonathan Rea might be able to offset such a deficit as he had last week with his high corner speed riding style. Moreover, the main overtaking opportunity in Assen is the final chicane. Before the final chicane is Ramshoek, which is a fast left-hander, meaning there is always an overtaking opportunity on the final lap if one rider is close enough behind the rider in front. In essence, what this means is that if there is a similar situation to Aragon, where Kawasaki are struggling compared to Ducati for drive and acceleration on corner exit, then in then in the situation of a last lap dual, Rea isn’t unarmed – once more, Assen delivers.

Of course, there is the option that no one can get near the #65 Kawasaki this weekend anyway – Jonathan Rea’s prowess around the legendary Dutch circuit is well documented, and after a somewhat controversial but well-deserved double last season to bring his total of Assen victories to eleven, meaning one win this weekend will bring him level with Carl Fogarty for the most wins in Assen. Also, it is probably worth pointing out that Rea has never been beaten on a Kawasaki in Assen – it could have been close last season, with Davies, but the Ducati expired with a few laps to go in race two, depriving us of what could have been a classic finish to the race.

Perhaps we can see that dual this season, but a Ducati has not won in Assen since Sylvain Guintoli on the Effenbert Liberty Racing bike back in 2012. That said, Chaz Davies looks in sublime form at the moment, and if he was ever going to take his first Assen victory in World Superbike, this weekend would be a good time to do it, especially with Ducati’s home race at Imola next up on the calendar – going there off the back of a positive weekend in Holland would be ideal, and a reduction in the gap at the top of the championship would likely go down well in Borgo Panigale too.

For Marco Melandri, though, it could be a difficult weekend in store. Assen has been unkind to the Italian in the past. He was leading the race in 2012 when it was red flagged for conditions, and Guintoli went on to take the win. Also, in 2013 his BMW had mechanical problems on the warm-up lap which meant he was unable to start. It is possible to say that Melandri is heading straight into another difficult weekend tomorrow, as his Panigale this year has been almost everything you would rather it not be for a circuit like Assen – mostly, unstable. In every race since Phillip Island race one, we have seen the #33 Ducati shaking its head at high speed and also in high speed direction changes. Almost, it would be impossible to watch a race entirely looking at Melandri, because probably your heart would expire before the chequered flag. How on earth Marco holds on to the thing when it gets into the big tank slappers we have seen on occasion at Buriram and a few times also in MotorLand is precisely why I am writing this and not riding, because I have no idea. But as dramatic as it is, and as much as we can praise Melandri for being able to still achieve two wins and a further podium, and to be only eighteen points off the championship lead in spite of all these issues, it is not a situation which would lend itself to the many high speed direction changes of the Circuit van Drenthe, and it could be that the 2002 250cc World Champion finds himself very much in a damage limitation situation on Saturday and Sunday.

But, of course, Melandri is not the last option for Ducati. The factory support for 2018, combined with the phenomenal Xavi Fores means that it is impossible at the moment to head into a round of WSBK without considering the Barni Racing Ducati for a non-surprise. It has been an incredible start to the 2018 season for the Spaniard, finishing on the podium in three of the first six races, which is a podium rate equal to that of Marco Melandri – on a satellite bike. MotorLand was, as usual with Xavi, a fantastic round for the #12, with a podium in race one, and a good ride in race two until his crash in turn 16 when he was leading. It looked as though Fores could have had the speed to win that race, and his crash was a huge shame, potentially down to wind speed, as Fores and his data said he did nothing different to the previous laps but still entered turn sixteen 3kph faster. Should he win this season, he will become the first rider in an independent team to win a WSBK race since Chaz Davies on the ParkinGo Aprilia at the Nurburgring in 2012 (unless you count Crescent Suzuki as an independent team, in which case it would be Eugene Laverty at Phillip Island in 2014). Of course, that is if no one beats him to it, but I might suggest that is a rather small if, and no fault of the teams or riders, either.

Even Fores is not the last Ducati rider we have to consider before this weekend. Michael Ruben Rinaldi, last year’s FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Champion, is competing in all of the European rounds of the 2018 Superbike World Championship, and out in an impressive performance in Aragon one week ago to come away from his first WSBK meeting with an eighth from race one, and a seventh from race two. That puts him on sixteen points, which draws him level with Jake Gagne in the World Championship standings. It will be interesting to see what the Italian rider can do this weekend on a track which is perhaps not as well suited to the Ducati as MotorLand.

Apart from Phillip Island race one, 2018 has been a bit of a disappointment from the perspective of Tom Sykes. The 2013 World Champion has only one podium to his name so far this season, way back in race one in Australia. MotorLand showed no improvement, either, for the number 66, who struggled to a pair of sixth places, and things might not get much better for the Brit this weekend. At Assen, Sykes won in dominant fashion in 2013, but has failed to return to the top step in Holland since. It certainly seems at the moment that the rule changes, which hurt Kawasaki the most, have affected Sykes more than Rea – but that is understandable because we know that Tom likes to stop the bike in the corner more than Rea, who likes more corner speed. But I don’t think many people thought it would be this bad for Sykes at this point in the season. However, as previously mentioned, the track’s characteristics could help Kawasaki this weekend, and right now it seems like Sykes could do with all the help he can get if he wants to be challenging for podiums and victories again.

For Yamaha, Aragon was a little bit disappointing. They went to MotorLand with the idea that they could win a race, but they did not get close on either occasion. As both riders have eluded, it is not clear what they need to make the step to allow them to fight for race wins – it is not one thing – but when they find it they both expect to be fighting for race wins week in week out. Whether they will find it this weekend or not remains to be seen, but with it being Michael van der Mark’s home race, one he always does well at, and one of Alex Lowes’ favourite circuits, the signs are positive for the Pata Yamaha WSBK squad, and maybe this is the weekend the ‘new’ R1 will finally get the World Superbike monkey of its back.

There are absences again this weekend: Eugene Laverty is of course out again after his horror crash in Buriram, and joining him on the side lines is Leon Camier. Laverty is again being replaced by Davide Giugliano whereas Camier will not be replaced, leaving Jake Gagne as the sole rider in the Red Bull Honda team.

Normally, Assen has some predictability, because every time you go to Assen, it rains – without fail. However, this time, no rain. Actually, the rain has been replaced by sun, and supposedly for the entire weekend, and with the way this season has gone so far, it is possibly fair to say that the rain is welcome to stay away – WSBK does not need it.

Images courtesy of ttcircuit.com and mediahouse.ducati.com

WSBK Thailand: The ‘Destination Of Speed’ Awaits

Four weeks after the sensational opening round at Philip Island, the World Superbike paddock sets up shop this weekend at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand.

Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Ducati) scored a brilliant double last time out in Australia, and will be looking to increase his lead at the top of the championship. History has not been kind to the factory-supported Ducati team. In the previous three years that World Superbikes has been visiting the Buriram track, no rider aboard a Panigale machine has stood on the top step of the podium.  The best result by any Ducati rider here is second place, achieved by Melandri’s teammate, Chaz Davies, in 2017. Davies will be looking to bounce back after a disappointing round in Australia, and reassert himself as the team’s number one. Davies has a good record here. Despite never having yet claimed victory, the 31-year old has finished on the podium twice here (second place in 2015 and third place in 2016). 

Aruba.it Ducati will also be facing competition from their privateer counterparts. Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati) was the standout independent rider from the opening round last month. The Spaniard threw the form book out of the proverbial window during the second race, to claim a remarkable third place finish just behind Melandri and Jonathan Rea (KRT) . At the Thai circuit we could see Fores feature prominently again, as the track suits the strengths of the Panigale 1199 as well as the ‘no holds barred’ style of its rider.

By their own admission the all-conquering Kawasaki Racing Team were disappointed to leave Phillip Island with two second place finishes. Despite starting the opening race from pole position, tyre trouble denied Tom Sykes. Jonathan Rea was beaten to the line in the thrilling drag race in race two. KRT have every reason to expect success this weekend. Since the World Superbike Championship first visited Thailand in 2015, the green and black machines have held an exclusive monopoly at the track with victory in all six previous races. Rea standing on the top step of the podium a staggering five times, with Sykes securing his victory in 2016.

Red Bull Honda looking to back up their strong performance from Australia. Leon Camier returned from the opening round with a solid haul of points for the team – underlining how far the team has improved since last season. The British rider defied all expectation, taking a brace of sixth place finishes. Most notably, in race 2 the Honda rider finished under 3 seconds shy of the winner. It was a challenging weekend for his teammate, Jake Gagne. The American had never before ridden the Phillip Island circuit, and the objectives were to simply learn the course, not crash and fight for points if possible. The rookie ticked all three boxes. It will be the case of “same again” this weekend as, having arrived from MotoAmerica, the 26-year old has never raced at the Buriram venue before.   

Gagne is one of five riders who will be racing a superbike around the Buriram circuit for the first time this weekend. The other four being: Loris Baz (Gulf Althea BMW), Yonny Hernandez (Team Pedercini Racing), PJ Jacobsen (TripleM Honda World Superbike Team) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki). 

The Pata Yamaha team will be looking to improve upon their solid, if unspectacular, showing in round one. In the build up to the season much had been made of the growing rivalry between the two Yamaha riders, Alex Lowes (Great Britain) and Michael Van der Mark (Netherlands). If you include qualifying performances into consideration, Lowes arrives in Thailand with a 3-0 lead over his team-mate, having out scored his teammate in both races last time out.  The Buriram circuit has not been a happy hunting ground for the team, with a best result of fourth last year for Lowes, being the highlight. Straight line speed is critical at this track, something the team spent a considerable amount of time working on during the winter tests.

Qualifying: Saturday, March 24th, 1330 Local Time (0630 GMT)

Race 1: Saturday, March 24th, 1600 Local Time (0900 GMT)

Race 2: Sunday, March 25th, 1600 Local Time (1000 BST)

 

WSBK Australia: Race 2 – Melandri Doubles Up in Australia

After a strange race one in Phillip Island, where tyre problems were aplenty, the second race of the first round of the 2018 Superbike World Championship was to have a mandatory pit stop, like the Grand Prix in 2013. Each rider was required to stop on either lap ten, eleven, or twelve. Despite this, with Jonathan Rea starting off the front row in second place, with all his main rivals, race one winner Marco Melandri, teammate Tom Sykes and the other factory Ducati of Chaz Davies, back on row three, it seemed almost inevitable that Rea would be victorious. Especially considering he Northern Irishman has never failed to win a race in a Phillip Island meeting since he joined Kawasaki back in 2015.

Sure enough, Rea made the holeshot. He was followed into turn by Xavi Fores, and Eugene Laverty moved into third. But when they arrived at Honda hairpin, Laverty made a huge lunge up the inside of both Fores and Rea to take the early lead, and demonstrate the front confidence he now has in the Aprilia.
Meanwhile, Leon Camier had been passed by Chaz Davies at Stoner’s for fourth. Other than Davies, who started seventh after his third place yesterday, the third row made pretty average starts, with Sykes and race one winner Melandri languishing early on. By the end of lap one, Laverty had an advantage of almost one second, and looked to be checking out, but the battle behind was fierce.

Entering lap two and Camier made a monumental dive up the inside of Fores and Rea for second place, and managed to keep the position despite running wide on the exit. At the same time, Alex Lowes dropped from sixth to tenth, behind Toprak Razgatlioglu, whilst teammate Michel van der Mark was sixth.

On lap three, Laverty high sided on the exit of Siberia, but remounted, albeit at the back of the pack. That left Chaz Davies in the lead, whilst the position swapping remained relentless behind. And by this time, Melandri had started to move through the pack, and by lap four he had made it up to fourth, just behind Rea, until Davies ran wide at Honda, sucking in Fores as he went, and leaving Rea to take the lead.

The position changes of the early laps was indicative of the rest of the race, and incredibly, Laverty was the only casualty from the top ten in the first part of the race.

But by lap five, Davies had gotten himself a few laps at the front and started to stretch the pack a little, and there became a distinct group of nine at the head of the race, with Chaz at its helm, and Alex Lowes at the tail end.

Come lap six and attention began to turn to the mandatory stops which would commence in just five laps time. There was a crash for Jake Gagne on the Red Bull Honda at Honda Hairpin, but he remounted in sixteenth.

As the first riders entered the pits at the end of lap ten, the order of the leading group of, now, eight was: Fores, Davies, Rea, van der Mark, Melandri, Camier, Sykes and Lowes. Those from the front group who stopped on lap ten were: Fores, Rea and van der Mark. These riders would have been hoping that, by stopping early, they could have gotten some clean air, and put in one or two fast laps to hopefully come out in front, and perhaps with a reasonable gap, to the rest of the pack. Added to that was the idea that the undercut (F1 term, meaning the pilot who comes in first has fresh tyres and can make time on those who stay out on worn rubber) would be quite strong due to the high tyre wear at Phillip Island, especially this weekend.

The other five of the top eight pitted on lap eleven. It would have been useful to see the order and the melee as the lap-eleven-stoppers re-joined in the midst of those who had stopped the lap earlier (and this was almost a perfect merge, as the undercut had almost no effect; it did not seem to matter at all whether you stopped on lap ten or lap eleven), but at this moment the director had an absolute nightmare, and decided to show thirty seconds of PJ Jacobsen on the Triple M Honda circulating on his own, as he waited until lap twelve to stop and was thus leading for a lap. When the directory finally got his act together, about a lap too late, the top eight went: Davies from Melandri, Fores, Lowes, Sykes, Rea, van der Mark and Camier. Crucially, though, all the leaders were together after the stops.

Unfortunately, Chaz Davies joined Eugene Laverty in the “crashed out of the lead” club, as he lost the front at MG on lap twelve, leading Fores as the leader of the group of seven at the head of the field.

Fortunately, though, the quality of the racing action did not diminish at all after the pit stops, and the passing continued to be relentless. However, there had become a gap between Sykes in third and van der Mark in fourth. However, after Melandri passed the Dutchman, he dragged both the Yamahas and the Red Bull Honda of Camier back up to the front three, and set himself about Sykes.

With six to go, Melandri used his impressive acceleration, which he carried over from his race one win on Saturday, to pass Sykes at the end of the straight. “The Grinner” nearly ran into the back of the Italian, and ran on a fair way. At the same time, and for a while still to come, Xavi Fores was continuing to look consistent at the front, making no mistakes, and being quick with it. In comparison, van der Mark was beginning to run into tyre woes, and dropped to seventh, as Camier moved to fifth ahead of the other Yamaha of Lowes.
Whilst this was going on, Sykes was coming back to the leading three, and by the beginning of lap twenty, he was back with them, just as the reigning World Champion hit the front. Fores then ran wide at Honda hairpin, allowing Melandri through, and seconds later Lowes eased aside Camier to take fifth.
On lap twenty, it became clear that Melandri was extremely strong in the final sector, as he negated the gap Rea had built up over the previous lap in just the final two corners and the pit straight.

The penultimate lap arrived, and when it concluded, Melandri slipstreamed past Rea to lead over the line, but the Northern Irishman fought back brutally, and with immediacy, at turn one with an outrageous inside dive. The factory Ducati of Melandri then seemed somewhat under pressure from the satellite Panigale of Fores. After the order of the top three remained the same through Honda Hairpin, it seemed that Melandri would be able to slipstream Rea to the line as he did the lap before, but only if Fores failed to pass him at MG Corner. Fortunately for the Italian, Fores was unable to make a pass at MG, and so the number 33 was free to tow the 2017 World Champion to the line to take his first double since Jerez 2014, and he did so by the gaping chasm of 0.021 seconds.

The victory was Melandri’s first at Phillip Island since 2006 in MotoGP – the flag-to-flag affair that left the 2002 250cc Grand Prix World Champion spinning and waving on the exit of the final corner to take victory. On this occasion, Melandri’s Panigale was speed-wobbling all the way down the Gardner Straight, as it had done on many other occasions not only in race two, but in race one as well. This instability was something Melandri had to battle almost every lap down into turn one, and it was for this reason that he understood his only chance to win was to slipstream Rea out of the final corner.

In 2017, Melandri claimed one win in the entire season. So far in 2018, he has already claimed two. Things might have been different if Davies or Laverty had not crashed, or if Rea was not ill, or if Marco hadn’t pushed Sykes wide when he passed him at turn one. However, all of those things did happen, and Melandri rode incredibly, and showed some stellar race craft for the second time this weekend, and ultimately his win was absolutely well deserved, as is his championship lead.

Speaking of championship leads, this is the first time Jonathan Rea has not held the lead of the Superbike World Championship since Qatar 2014, when Sylvain Guintoli clinched the title from Tom Sykes. Still, despite a tyre issue in race one that had him considering retirement (from the race), and a bout of flu, the reigning World Champion heads to Buriram for round two lying third in the championship, only nineteen points off the top spot, and in the knowledge that Kawasaki has not been defeated so far in Thailand.

As for Xavi Fores, he put in a superb performance for third, and might have won had things worked out a little differently. But, as it is, he took third place, and in fabulous style, barely making a mistake in the entire race, and having enough confidence to fight with the likes of the factory Kawasakis and Ducatis. In one way, Fores is like World Superbike’s Johann Zarco – he’s the independent team rider who can beat the factory guys. And, of course, it goes without saying that Fores is leading the Independent championship at the moment.

Tom Sykes took home fourth place. As with Fores, had things gone differently, the Englishman could have found himself one or two places higher. But with things as they are, he goes to Thailand in a few weeks lying second in the championship and looking as comfortable on the Kawasaki as he has done since 2014. In this form, Sykes can challenge for the title, no doubt about it.

The top five was rounded out by the first of the Yamahas: Alex Lowes, who won out in the scrap with his teammate and Leon Camier. Whilst being only a couple of seconds off the win is not so bad, it is possible to say that the Yamaha guys will be leaving Australia slightly disappointed, as it was thought the new technical regulations would favour them the most. As it is, Lowes is worse-off points-wise now than he was at this stage last year. With that being said, Phillip Island can be a misleading track – the high speed nature means that big groups almost always form, and it is possible that some teams and riders can be flattered by this. Of course, that is combined, in this case, with the pit stop, which essentially meant that tyre conservation was irrelevant, and the race was basically two sprint races, and last year one of the strengths of the Yamaha was the way it saved the rear tyre. With this in mind, perhaps we will see both Lowes and van der Mark fighting for the podium at the end of the races in Thailand.

It was a positive race for Leon Camier, as the Brit split the R1s to take sixth. Hopefully for the Red Bull Honda squad, this positive start can be a sign of things to come in 2018, as they look to bounce back from a 2017 which was dreadful at best when it came to on-track performance.

Eugene Laverty looked strong early on. He took the lead at turn four on the opening lap and from there he stretched his lead to 1.5 seconds over the next two laps. He looked comfortable, and that is what made his crash something of a shock. In race one the Irishman finished ninth thanks to front tyre wear issues, and his crash was early enough in race two to mean that we never got a chance to see if he had rectified those problems. What can be said though, is that the 2013 runner-up looked supremely confident on the RSV4 in those early laps, and that has to be a positive sign for the coming races. On the whole, though, Phillip Island has been something of a disappointing round for the Milwaukee Aprilia team, who also lost Lorenzo Savadori from the weekend after a Superpole crash which cost him the chance to race. As such, they only amassed eight points from the weekend. On the positive side, it is difficult to see how it can be much worse in Buriram.

All in all, the opening round of the 2018 Superbike World Championship was stellar, in terms of the racing action, and is hopefully an indicator for the rest if the season. We have understood that Marco Melandri might be able to fight for the championship, and the same can probably be said for Tom Sykes. For the rules, we must wait for some more rounds to pass before we make a judgement, but the first signs are positive.

In one month, the paddock arrives in Thailand, and thee we will get a better understanding of what might await in the 2018 Superbike World Championship.

WSBK Australia: Race 1 – Melandri Draws First Blood

Marco Melandri turned back the clock on Saturday, leaving the field in his wake at the Phillip Island Circuit.

A colder than expected track temperature, along with regular gusts of wind rolling in from the Bass strait, ensured that maintaining a smooth rhythm was nigh on impossible for the riders.

The Italian produced a brilliant tactical performance. Content enough to sit behind his rivals in the first half of the race and managing his machine to contend with the testing track conditions, enabling him to produce an irresistible charge in the closing laps whilst the others floundered. The icing on the cake being a perfectly executed block pass through the high speed Doohan corner and under heavy braking into the Southern loop, on Tom Sykes during the penultimate lap.

A new season, with a raft of new regulations, filled riders and spectators with optimism that the new season would be more competitive than the last. The bright green KRT machine of Sykes on pole threatened to suggest otherwise.

The Yorkshireman made a brilliant start as the lights went out, hooking up the start and pulling a relatively healthy lead out to the rest of the field in the opening laps. A solid practice day on Friday had been backed up by a stunning performance in Qualifying on Saturday morning. The warning signs for the rest could not have been more ominous.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) led the chase behind, with the triple world champion in no mood to go down without a fight. Following in hot pursuit as always, were the two factory Aruba.it Ducati bikes of Melandri and Chaz Davies. The trio would dice with each other throughout the 22 laps, gradually closing the lead to Sykes.

The cold temperatures additionally brought another problem for the teams – tyre wear.

It was a case of what might have been for Rea as late in the race he was forced to drop back and out of contention of the podium battle. He would eventually finish behind Spanish rider Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati) in fifth place. After the race, a quick look at his rear tyre explained the problem. The slick rubber had been worn almost through to the carcass. However, Rea’s problems were not as evident with the remaining podium contenders as the factory Ducati rider (Davies) and the privateer machine of Fores engaged in a gripping battle, with both riders exchanging places at almost every corner. Davies emerging with the bragging rights after shutting out his rival at the bottom of the infamous Lukey Heights corner.

Behind the top five there was action to be found in abundance. The two Pata-Yamaha team-mates, Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark, were locked in thrilling race long duel. Although in the closing stages, the latter rider was forced to drop behind and conserve what little rubber was still attached to his rear tyre, eventually finishing in P9. In contrast, Lowes managed to hold on to sixth place suffering noticeably less tyre wear than most of the competition. His smooth riding style, which has helped him to back-to-back Suzuka 8 hour wins a clear factor.

The the Red Bull Honda team, the opening race on Saturday confirmed that the team has made an incredible amount of progress since 2017. Leon Camier finished an eventful race in seventh place – and 21 seconds behind the winning time of Melandri. The veteran British rider found himself locked in a brilliant scrap early in the race with Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia), Loris Baz (Gulf Althea BMW), Leandro Mercado (Oretac Racing Kawasaki) and Jordi Torres (MV Agusta). The latter unfortunately crashing out with only 3 laps left in the race, but both he and his team can take considerable encouragement with the pace and reliability shown across the weekend.

It was a solid day for Laverty, however. The Irishman had been the bolt from the blue earlier in the day, by qualifying on the front row of the grid in second place. Whilst it was inevitable that the Aprilia dropped back during the race, the former MotoGP rider did not surrender any places without a fight. Whilst the TV cameras may have been more interested in the battle for the podium, the dicing between Laverty, Lowes and Camier were not for the faint hearted. The raw pace is there to make Laverty competitive this season, of that there is no doubt.

But the day undoubtedly belonged to Marco Melandri. The Ducati man had looked competitive since the first practice session on Friday morning. A front row start and stunning charge ensured he could not be denied the first blood of the 2018 season. Additionally, this win puts the Italian on 21 victories in the World Superbike class – equal to that of his illustrious compatirot: multiple Grand Prix race winner and double Superbike World Champion, Max Biaggi.

WSBK Race Result – Top 10:

1: Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Ducati) 33’40.354

2: Tom Sykes (KRT) + 1.180

3: Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati) + 9.265

4: Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati)

5: Jonathan Rea (KRT)

6: Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha)

7: Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda)

8: Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia)

9: Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha)

10: Leandro Mercado (Oretac Racing Kawasaki)

Pata Yamaha: “Much Faster Than Before”

Winter pre-season testing concluded this week for the World Superbike competitors at the Autodromo do Algarve, Portugal. The two-day event presented the teams with one final chance to make sure their setups are optimised, ahead of the opening round next month in Australia.

One team who managed to fully capitalise their on-track running was the Pata Yamaha outfit. Whilst both riders had managed a solid return last week at Jerez, this week the team ramped up preparations for the season, with both riders completing multiple race and qualifying simulations. As one of the teams expected to close the gap to the Kawasaki Racing Team this season, this final test on the Algarve coast presented the factory supported outfit with a final chance to get everything with the bikes right before the season opener.

Testing can be extremely difficult to gauge the true form of a team. There are simply too many non-disclosed variables – such as tyre compound usage, amounts of fuel in the tank, what engine mode is being run etc – to give onlookers a true indication of who is actually in a strong position or not.

One thing from this test is clear however, Pata Yamaha are definitely looking like they are ready to hit the ground running when the races start. Having finished as the third best team last year (behind KRT and Aruba.it Ducati respectively), the team have targeted victories in the forthcoming season. Following the test in Portugal this week, both the team’s riders will be very confident about their prospects in 2018. Michael van der Mark in particular had nothing but praise for his machine.     

VDM: We had some important things to test, we tried different settings and we found some really good solutions for a number of setups, plus we were really fast and consistent as well. I am really happy with my race rhythm, I did my fastest time on race tyres so, I am really pleased with that and even with used tyres, we were a lot faster here than we have been here before.

For fans, this will come as welcome words indeed for a team who have made no secret that they believe they can challenge KRT this season. Van der Mark’s statements are firmly supported by the timesheets. During the Portuguese round last season, the best time for the flying Dutchman was 1:43.710 – in testing this week his best time was down to just 1:42.028. Even when fuel loads and tyre compounds are taken into account, it is still an astonishing time, and confirms that Yamaha have really made serious progress over the winter.

The progress that has evidently been made was not limited to just Van der Mark’s side of the garage. Team-mate Alex Lowes, the 2013 British Superbike champion and double Suzuka 8 hours winner, also had reason to be delighted with how the test at Portimao unfolded. The 27 year-old from Lincoln chalked up 170 laps over the two days, confirming not just improved pace, but solid reliability as well.

AL: We have had a really strong test because we have managed to find solutions to all the issues I had here at the race, which means I have a lot of optimism heading to Phillip Island! I’ve tried to not push too hard and ‘keep my powder dry’, as they say, before the first race and I am ready to go! It really has been a good few days of testing, we have had some negative things as well, which is always good to get them out the way now instead of during the season and today we finished with a positive performance.”

If both Lowes and Van der Mark were indeed keeping the powder dry, then we should expect the team to come out all guns blazing at Phillip Island next month. Perhaps the early predictions of complete Kawasaki domination this season might have been a little premature.

The 2018 World Superbike Championship begins at the Phillip Island circuit, Australia, 23rd-25th February.

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